-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Named in 1999 as the male `` athlete of the century '' by the International Association of Athletics Federations , Carl Lewis embodied the Olympic motto -- `` Citius , altius , fortius '' -LRB- Faster , higher , stronger -RRB- .

Lewis leaps to gold in Barcelona in 1992 .

The American twice won gold in the 100 meters , the Olympic blue riband event , but he arguably achieved more in the long jump , a discipline in which he was unbeaten in all competition for a decade and won four straight Olympic gold medals between 1984 and 1996 .

Lewis collected four gold medals at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles , emulating the achievement of Jessie Owens in Munich in 1936 .

Born in Alabama in the 1960s to parents who were veterans of the civil rights movement , it was a comparison that made Lewis especially proud .

Lewis ' 9.9-second victory in the 100 meters by eight feet was the biggest winning margin in Olympic history .

Unchallenged in the long jump , Lewis jumped 8.54 meters into the wind with his first effort , fouled on his second leap , and passed on his final four jumps .

He also won gold in the 200 meters and as part of the U.S. 4x100 meters relay team .

Seoul showdown

The 1988 Games in Seoul , South Korea , were billed as a showdown between Lewis and Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson who had won the 100 meters at the 1987 world championships in a world record 9.83 seconds .

Johnson finished first in 9.79 seconds , but three days later he was sent home in disgrace after failing a doping test .

Lewis , second on the track , earned another gold medal and was also awarded the world record for his time of 9.93 seconds .

He also became the first athlete ever to successfully defend the 100 meters title , a feat he emulated in the long jump .

By 1992 in Barcelona , at the age of 31 , Lewis ' career seemed to be on the wane .

The previous year he had been beaten in the long jump at the world championships by Mike Powell , who had also broken the world record .

But Lewis hit back , beating his American rival by three centimeters with a leap of 8.67 meters for his third straight title .

Lewis also earned his eighth career gold by anchoring the U.S. relay team 's victory in the 4x100 meters .

The 1996 Games in Atlanta should have been no more than a farewell appearance in an Olympic career that had also begun on home soil . Lewis had barely qualified for the U.S. team , finishing third in the long jump trials .

Yet he somehow rose to the occasion , producing his best jump in four years to claim gold again , 12 years after he had first topped the podium , and retire undefeated in Olympic long jump competitions .

It was , wrote Rick Reilly in Sports Illustrated , `` quite possibly his most impossible moment in an impossibly brilliant career . ''

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Olympic Record : 9 gold medals and 1 silver medal

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He became the first athlete ever to successfully defend the 100 meters title

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Athlete ; born July 1 , 1961 , in Birmingham , Alabama